Method for transmission of a process value and control system

ABSTRACT

Control system with at least one control unit, a server computer, a first document in a markup language and a second document in a markup language for loading through a client computer, whereby the first document contains at least one field and the second document contains data for directing the field to an address in a control unit.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application is the US National Stage of International Application No. PCT/DE02/03103, filed Aug. 23, 2002 and claims the benefit thereof. The International Application claims the benefits of German application No. 10144332.3 filed Sep. 10, 2001, both of the applications are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

FIELD OF INVENTION

[0002] The invention relates to a method for transmission of a process value from a control unit to a client computer as well as to a method for transmission of an input value from a client computer to a control unit and a corresponding control system and computer program product.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

[0003] It is known per se from the prior art how to link a control system, for example a stored program control (SPC) or a programmable logic controller (PLC), with a system server which can be accessed by a client computer. The client computer can load HTML pages from the server computer, for example in order to display process values on a user interface. The link between an output field of the HTML page and the process value is permanently programmed, for example by means of a JAVA script or by means of OCX (OLE Control Extension).

[0004] A system for remotely accessing a control system via a commercial communications network is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,061,603. FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of this already known system.

[0005] The system comprises a personal computer 8 with a browser program 10. The browser 10 can be a commercially available Internet browser such as, for example, Netscape Communication Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer. The browser program 10 is used for accessing what is known as a website 4 via the Internet 14 in order to display the contents of the website 4 on the monitor 12 of the personal computer 8 for a user 2.

[0006] The website 4 includes a network interface 16 with a unique Internet address 18 as well as a server computer 20 and an application program 22. The server computer 20 serves to interpret HTTP protocols and uses TCP/IP by means of TCP/IP stack 24 in order to interact with the network interface 16 and the application program 22. This enables the data to be transferred between the application program 22 and the user 2 via the Internet 14.

[0007] The application program supplies data from a control system 6. This data can be used by the user 2 for monitoring the controller, since said data can be transferred by means of the TCP/IP stack 24 from the website 4 via the Internet 14 to the personal computer 8 of the user 2. By this means a human-machine interface is created on the personal computer 8.

[0008] The user 2 can set up a connection to the Internet 14 by way of what is termed an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and then enter the address of the website 4 into the browser program 10. Using the browser 10 the user 2 can then, for example, read a homepage of the website 4 and download information from said website 4. In response to an input by the user 2 the browser 10 sends commands to the website 4, which commands are used by the application program 22 in order to display information which is provided by the control system 6. A disadvantage with this already known system is in particular that the application program 22 has to be programmed specifically for a particular control system 6 and permits no flexibility of any kind.

[0009] The document XP 002163955, “c-Internet connector box miniwebserver”, Operating Instructions Rev 2.0 Internet Connector Box, Xx, Xx (Oct. 7, 1999), 1-121 discloses a device (ICB) with an embedded Internet server with which dynamic Internet pages can be generated from an HTML template. Up to three devices which support a special protocol can be connected to the ICB device. In order to communicate with such devices, the ICB device uses an information element which the devices sent to the device in their initialization phase.

[0010] XP010365709, Emerging Technologies And Factory Automation, 1999, Proceedings, Etfa '99, 1999 7^(th) IEEE International Conference On [sic] Barcelona, Spain 18-21 Oct. 1999, Piscataway, Ni, Usa, ieee, Us (18, Oct. 1999), 823-830 discloses a method for accessing fieldbus devices using a client computer via the Internet. Here, a database or an XML document is used to provide a description of the fieldbus devices. The content of the HTML pages is then generated using the information from the database or the XML document.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

[0011] The object of the invention is therefore to create an improved method for transmission of a process value from a control unit to a client computer as well as a method for transmission of an input value from a client computer to a control unit and a corresponding control system and computer program product.

[0012] The object underlying the invention is achieved by the features of the respective independent claims.

[0013] Preferred embodiments of the invention are specified in the dependent claims.

[0014] The invention permits the links between the fields of an HTML page and the process values on the server to be parameterized and transferred together with the HTML page from the server computer to the client computer. Elements on the HTML page can be identified in this case by means of an ID attribute, whereby the element type can be arbitrary.

[0015] A particular advantage is that the graphical layout of the HTML page can initially be independent of the actual engineering data, i.e. for example the actual addresses of the control system. The individual fields of the HTML page are then linked subsequently via a further document in a markup language, XML for example.

[0016] This permits the greatest possible flexibility also with regard to changes on the HTML page or changes with regard to the control system, for example if a control system is to be replaced by a control system of a new type which has different address ranges. In this case only the address ranges need to be re-assigned to the corresponding fields in the HTML page in the XML document.

[0017] Also of particular advantage is that this flexible access by the user to the system controller can also take place via what is termed a firewall. The user can therefore log in from any location initially for example into a corporate intranet via a corresponding firewall in order subsequently to enter into contact with the system server. What is particularly advantageous here is that the user can also make inputs in addition to being able to visualize process values.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] A preferred exemplary embodiment of the invention will be explained in more detail in the following with reference to the drawings, in which:

[0019]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a control system known from the prior art,

[0020]FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of the control system according to the invention,

[0021]FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a second embodiment of the control system according to the invention,

[0022]FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an embodiment of the method for transmission of a process value from a control unit to a client computer,

[0023]FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the method for transmission of an input value from a client computer to a control unit,

[0024]FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a third embodiment of the control system according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

[0025]FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a control system for controlling a system 25. The system 25 is connected to one or more control units known as stored program controls (SPCs)—designated as SPS X and SPS Y in the example shown. The two control units SPS X and SPS Y each have different addresses, for accessing data for example. In particular, the control unit SPS X has the addresses a and c for storing process values; the control unit SPS Y has the address b.

[0026] The control units SPS X and SPS Y are connected to a system server computer 27 via a fieldbus 26. The system server computer 27 can execute read/write accesses to the storage addresses a, c of the SPS X and to the address b of the SPS Y via the fieldbus 26.

[0027] The system server computer27 contains a document 28 in a markup language. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the markup language used for the document 28 is the hypertext markup language (HTML). The document 28 contains the fields A, B and C for displaying and/or graphically visualizing process values and/or for entering values. In addition, a script 29 is coded in the document 28. This can be a JAVA script for example. As an alternative to the script 29, a so-called applet can be provided.

[0028] Also coded in the document 28 is a pointer 30 to a document 31. The pointer 30 can consist, for example, of the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of the document 31.

[0029] The document 31 is likewise available in a markup language, this being an Extended Markup Language (XML) in the example shown in FIG. 2. A table 32 is coded in the document 31.

[0030] Table 32 contains an assignment of the fields A, B and C of the document 28 to specific storage addresses of the control units SPS X and SPS Y. In table 32, for example, field A is assigned to SPS X, and more specifically to address a of SPS X, whereas field B is assigned to address b of SPS Y, and field C to address c of SPS X. Table 32 can contain further assignments of this kind for further fields of the document 28 to further addresses of the SPS X and Y, as well as of further control units where necessary.

[0031] By means of a browser 34 a client computer 33 can set up a connection to the system server computer 27 via a network 35. The client computer 33 can be a regular personal computer, an operator console, a portable computer, a mobile phone with WAP browser or also a so-called WAP pad.

[0032] The network 35 can be a corporate network or system-internal network, an intranet, extranet or the Internet itself. In the last-mentioned case the communication can also be set up via a so-called firewall between the client computer 33 and the system server computer 27. A commercially available browser program, for example Netscape Communication Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer, can be used as the browser.

[0033] During operation of the system according to FIG. 2, a user of the client computer 33 navigates by means of the browser 34 via the network 35 to the HTML document 28. The user does this for example by selecting a corresponding hypertext link or entering the URL of the document 28 into the browser 34.

[0034] The document 28 is then transferred via the network 35 to the client computer 33. The script 29 of the document 28 is also launched automatically on the client computer 33 and executed. The script can be, for example, a JAVA script or a Visual Basic script; alternatively, a so-called applet can also be used.

[0035] The script 29 reads the pointer 30 of the document 28 and access the document 31 on the system server computer 27 by means of the corresponding URL. The document 31 is then transferred via the network 35 to the client computer 33.

[0036] The script 29 then reads the assignments of the fields A, B and C of the document 28 to the addresses of the control units SPS X and SPS Y from table 32, for example for field A the address specification indicating that a corresponding process value is stored on SPS X under the address a.

[0037] The script 29 then sends a command to the system server computer 27, which command contains the control units and addresses assigned to the fields A, B and C. The system server computer 27 then accesses the control units SPS X and/or SPS Y via the fieldbus 26 in order to read the contents of the corresponding storage locations with the addresses a, b and c.

[0038] The corresponding process values stored at these storage addresses are then transferred by the system server computer 27 via the network 35 to the client computer 33 and displayed by the script 29 in the corresponding fields A, B and C of the document 28 for the user.

[0039]FIG. 3 shows an alternative embodiment of the embodiment according to FIG. 2, in which alternative embodiment corresponding elements are designated by the same reference characters.

[0040] In contrast to the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the system server computer 27 according to FIG. 3 contains the files 36 and 37. File 36 contains a table which assigns to the document 28 a pointer to the document 31 belonging to the document 28. This corresponds to the pointer 30 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, whereby the file 36 does not belong to the document 28 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, but is stored separately on the system server computer 27. If further documents 28 are present on the system server computer 27, the file 36 accordingly contains pointers for the assignment of these further documents 28 to corresponding further documents 31.

[0041] The document 31 contains a coded table 38 which corresponds to the table 32 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2. In contrast to table 32 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, table 38 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 contains no actual addresses, but only the designation of parameter value designations assigned to the fields A, B, C of the document 28. Field A, for example, is assigned to a parameter value with the designation “boiler”, the boiler temperature for example; field B is assigned to a parameter value with the designation “engine”, an engine speed for example, and field C is assigned to a parameter value with the designation “pump”, a valve setting of the pump for example.

[0042] File 37, which is stored separately from the document 28 on the system server computer 27, assigns each designation of this kind to an address on a control unit, for example the designation “boiler” to the control unit SPS X and its storage address a, the designation “engine” to the control unit SPS Y and its address b, etc.

[0043] During operation of the system shown in FIG. 3, the document 28 is then loaded in turn by the client computer 33 and the script 29 executed. The script 29 then queries the file 36 for the pointer to the document 31 which is assigned to the document 28 and then, by means of this pointer, loads the document 31. Using the designations assigned to the individual fields A, B and C in table 38 of the document 31, the script then queries the file 37 in order to obtain the corresponding addresses or control units.

[0044] Using the addresses obtained in this way, the script 29 again sends a command to the system server computer 27 in order to execute a query to obtain the corresponding parameter values of the specified addresses of the control units SPS X and SPS Y.

[0045] With this embodiment it is particularly advantageous that the assignments in the document 31 are made abstractly, which means that the document 31 does not need to be changed in the event of a change of the control unit and/or the address. In this case only a change of the corresponding address entry in the file 37 is required.

[0046] Both in the embodiment according to FIG. 2 and in the embodiment according to FIG. 3, it is also possible to transfer an input value from the client computer 33 to a control unit. To do this, the user enters an input value in an input field of the document 28, in field A for example. The script 29 is activated by actuation of the entry key by the user of the client computer 33.

[0047] The script 29 then sends a command to the system server computer 27. This command contains as arguments the input value and also the address and control unit assigned to the input field. This was determined beforehand by the script 29 on the occasion of the transfer of the process values from the control units to the client computer, as explained above.

[0048] The system server computer 27 then executes a write access to the corresponding address of the corresponding control unit—in the example under consideration, for field A as the input field this is the SPS X with the address a—in order to store the input value there.

[0049] If only one control unit is present, table 32 or file 37 contains only a corresponding address specification, since the specification of the control unit is superfluous in that case. FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of an embodiment of the method for transmission of a process value. In step 40, a document in a markup language, for example HTML, is first loaded by the client computer. In step 41, a script coded in the HTML page is launched and, in step 42, loads a further document in a markup language, for example XML, assigned to the HTML page from the system server computer.

[0050] Using the address specifications in the XML document, in step 43 the script queries the corresponding data for the fields of the HTML document from the system server computer. In step 44, the system server computer then queries the corresponding data from the control unit or control units. In step 45, this data is then transferred from the system server computer to the client computer, and in step 46 it is displayed in the corresponding fields of the HTML page.

[0051]FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the method according to the invention for transmission of an input value from a client computer to a control unit. In step 50, the input value is entered in one of the fields of the HTML document, for example field A (compare FIGS. 2 and 3). In step 51, this input value is assigned to a specific address, i.e. a particular control unit if a plurality of control units are present, and to a storage address on the control unit in question. This assignment of the input value to an address is made via the corresponding assignment of the input field to the address which is provided by means of a further document in a markup language (compare document 31 of FIGS. 2 and 3).

[0052] In step 52, the input value is transferred together with the address to the server and from there stored at the corresponding address.

[0053]FIG. 6 shows a further preferred embodiment of a control system for controlling a system 25. Elements of the control systems of FIG. 6 which correspond to elements of the control system from FIG. 2 are designated by the same reference characters.

[0054] In contrast to the control system from FIG. 2, table 32 is not part of the document 31, but is stored separately in the system server computer 27. Instead of that, the document 31 contains a table 36 for assigning current display values to the fields A, B, C, . . . .

[0055] The system server computer 27 also includes a program 37. The program 37 generates the document 31 with the table 36 automatically by means of corresponding accesses to the SPS X, SPS Y, . . . using the table 32. A separate table 32 exists for each page 28.

[0056] Compared to the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, it is advantageous with the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 that the display values are transferred directly to the client and not the addresses which permit these values to be queried. Compared to the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, therefore, with the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 the load on the network 35 is reduced. This is achieved in particular in that the program 37 generates table 36 in document 31 on the server side by accessing table 32.

[0057] During operation of the system shown in FIG. 6, a user of the client computer 33 navigates by means of the browser 34 via the network 35 to the HTML document 28; for example the user selects a corresponding hypertext link or enters the URL of the document 28 into the browser 34.

[0058] The document 28 is then transferred via the network 35 to the client computer 33. The script 29 of the document 28 is also launched automatically on the client computer 33 and executed. The script can be, for example, a JAVA script or a Visual Basic script; alternatively, a so-called applet can also be used.

[0059] The script 29 reads the pointer 30 of the document 28 and accesses the document 31 on the system server computer 27 by means of the corresponding URL. The program 37 then determines the addresses of the required values in the SPSs from table 32 and fetches the values via the fieldbus 26. The program 37 then generates the document 31, in which the table 36 is coded with field/value assignment. The document 31 is then transferred via the network 35 to the client computer 33.

[0060] The script 29 then reads out the assignments of the fields A, B and C to the values in table 36 and modifies the displayed elements of the HTML page 28 in the browser 34. The values can be displayed here for example as numeric values in HTML fields or a value can also be translated for example into a color change of an HTML element.

[0061] User inputs in the browser 34 can also be transferred from the client 33 to the system 25 in the same way. If a user has modified HTML fields of the HTML page 28 displayed in the browser 34, the script 29 generates a document 31 on the client 33, in which document 31 the table 36 is coded with the field/value assignment.

[0062] This document 31 is transferred from the client 33 to the system server 27. There, the program 37 interprets/translates the field names from table 36 into SPS addresses with the aid of table 32 and sends the values from table 37 via the fieldbus 26 to the corresponding SPSs.

[0063] Accordingly, it is also possible to vary the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 in such a way that the document 31 contains a table 36 with the field values. For this purpose the table 38 (cf. FIG. 3) is stored on the system server 27, and a corresponding program 37 generates the field values.

[0064] To sum up, the invention pertains to a control system with at least one control unit SPS X, SPS Y, . . . , a server computer, a first document in a markup language and a second document in a markup language for loading by a client computer, whereby the first document contains at least a field A, B, C, . . . and the second document contains data for assigning the field to an address of a control unit. 

1.-15. (cancelled)
 16. A method for transmission of a process value from a control unit to a client computer, comprising: providing at least one access to a first document in a markup language of a server computer, the first document having at least one field for the process value; providing at least one access to a second document in a markup language, with the second document having data for assigning the field to an address of the control unit; assigning the field to the address of the control unit; assigning the second document to the first document, whereby a database is accessed on behalf of the server computer for the purpose of assigning; querying the process value from the address; and transmitting the process value from the server computer to the client computer.
 17. A method for transmission of an input value from a client computer to a control unit, comprising: providing at least one access to a first document in a markup language of a server computer, the first document having at least one field for the input value; providing at least one access to a second document in a markup language, the second document containing data for assigning the field to an address of the control unit; entering the input value into the field; assigning the field to the address of the control unit; assigning the second document to the first document, whereby a database is accessed on behalf of the server computer for the purpose of assigning; and transmitting the input value from the server computer to the control unit.
 18. A method according to claim 16, wherein the first document comprises a script.
 19. A method according to claim 16, wherein a script of the first document executes a query of the database to determine the assignment of the first document to a second document.
 20. A method according to claim 16, wherein the first document comprises a pointer to the second document.
 21. A method according to claims 16, wherein the data for assigning the field to an address of the control unit contains an address of the control unit.
 22. A method according to claims 16, wherein the second document assigns a designation to the field of the first document and a database of the server computer is queried using a script, the database containing an assignment of the designation to an address of the control unit.
 23. A computer program product comprising computer-readable means for performing a method for transmission of a process value from a control unit to a client computer, the method comprising: providing at least one access to a first document in a markup language of a server computer, the first document having at least one field for the process value; providing at least one access to a second document in a markup language, with the second document having data for assigning the field to an address of the control unit; assigning the field to the address of the control unit; assigning the second document to the first document, whereby a database is accessed on behalf of the server computer for the purpose of assigning; querying the process value from the address; and transmitting the process value from the server computer to the client computer.
 24. A control system comprising: at least one control unit; a server computer; a first document in a markup language and a second document in a markup language for loading by a client computer, the first document comprising at least one field; and a first database for assigning the first and the second document on the server computer, the second document comprising data for assigning the field to an address of the control unit.
 25. A control system according to claim 24, wherein the first document comprises a script.
 26. A control system according to claim 24, wherein the first document has a pointer to the second document.
 27. A control system according to claim 24, wherein the data for assigning the field to an address of the control unit has an address of the control unit.
 28. A control system according to claim 24, wherein the data for assigning the field to an address of the control unit assigns a designation to the field and having a second database on the server computer for assigning the designation to the address of the control unit.
 29. A method according to claim 17, wherein the first document comprises a script.
 30. A method according to claim 17, wherein a script of the first document executes a query of the database to determine the assignment of the first document to a second document.
 31. A method according to claim 29, wherein the script of the first document executes a query of the database to determine the assignment of the first document to a second document.
 32. A method according to claim 18, wherein the script of the first document executes a query of the database in order to determine the assignment of the first document to a second document.
 33. A method according to claim 17, wherein the first document contains a pointer to the second document.
 34. A method according to claim 33, wherein the pointer to the second document is a URL.
 35. A method according to claim 18, wherein the first document contains a pointer to the second document.
 36. A method according to claim 17, wherein the data for assigning the field to an address of the control unit contains an address of the control unit.
 37. A method according to claim 29, wherein the data for assigning the field to an address of the control unit contains an address of the control unit.
 38. A method according to claim 18, wherein the data for assigning the field to an address of the control unit contains an address of the control unit.
 39. A method according to claim 17, wherein the second document assigns a designation to the field of the first document and a database of the server computer is queried using a script, said database containing an assignment of the designation to an address of the control unit.
 40. A method according to claim 29, wherein the second document assigns a designation to the field of the first document and a database of the server computer is queried using a script, said database containing an assignment of the designation to an address of the control unit.
 41. A method according to claim 18, wherein the second document assigns a designation to the field of the first document and a database of the server computer is queried using a script, said database containing an assignment of the designation to an address of the control unit.
 42. A computer program product comprising computer-readable means for performing a method for transmission of an input value from a client computer to a control unit, comprising: providing at least one access to a first document in a markup language of a server computer, with the first document having at least one field for the input value; providing at least one access to a second document in a markup language, the second document containing data for assigning the field to an address of the control unit; entering the input value into the field; assigning the field to the address of the control unit; assigning the second document to the first document, whereby a database is accessed on behalf of the server computer for the purpose of assigning; and transmitting the input value from the server computer to the control unit.
 43. A computer program product according to claim 23, wherein the program for performing the method is executed on a control system.
 44. A computer program product according to claim 42, wherein the program for performing the method is executed on a control system.
 45. A control system according to claim 25, wherein the first document has a pointer to the second document.
 46. A control system according to claim 45, wherein the pointer is a URL.
 47. A control system according to claim 26, wherein the pointer is a URL. 